Gas separation – With gas flow effecting means – Impeller within or proximate to space encompassed by...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-23
2003-11-11
Smith, Duane (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
With gas flow effecting means
Impeller within or proximate to space encompassed by...
C055S506000, C055S508000, C055S486000, C055SDIG003, C096S397000, C096S417000, C096S421000, C439S640000, C439S654000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06645266
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air purifier, and more particularly, to an air purifier, of which the plug is rotatably fitted to the main housing.
Air purifiers takes many forms such as a common large one, which is positioned on the floor and has a wire used for connecting the motor to the power supply, and a small-sized one, which has a plug directly connected to the main housing without the use of a wire. Because the wire of the common air purifier is likely to cause people to trip over it accidentally and the air purifier would take too much space in the house, the small-sized one is getting more and more popular.
Referring to 
FIG. 6
, a conventional small-sized air purifier has a main body 
1
, an air outlet grille 
12
, a filtering net 
11
, a motor 
21
, a fan 
22
, a rear housing 
2
 and a power plug 
3
.
The air outlet grille 
12
, and the filtering net 
11
 are secured to the front of the main body 
1
. The motor 
21
 is also secured to the main body 
1
, and is connected to the fan 
22
 from a rotatable shaft (not numbered). The rear housing 
2
 is joined to the rear side of the main body 
1
.
The power plug 
3
 includes a pair of copper strips 
35
 and 
36
, a shaft 
30
, a casing consisting of two half parts 
31
 and 
32
, and a pain of conductors 
33
 and 
34
. The copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 are joined to the shaft 
30
, and the half parts 
31
 and 
32
 of the casing are connected to each other to house the shaft 
30
 therein with two ends of each of the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 sticking out therefrom. Referring to 
FIG. 7
, the casing is rotatably received in a chamber 
23
 of the rear housing 
2
, and the conductors 
33
 and 
34
 are secured to the bottom wall of the chamber 
23
; the conductors 
33
 and 
34
 each has a straight portion projecting into the rear housing 
2
 so as to be electrically connected to the motor 
21
. The conductors 
33
 and 
34
 each further has a conductive portion 
331
 and 
341
 abutting the bottom wall of the chamber 
23
, the conductive portions 
331
 and 
341
 are each formed with an L-shape to get into contact with one of the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
.
The motor 
21
 can be activated when the outer ends of the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 are plugged into the power socket; thus, air can be forced to travel through the net 
11
 to be purified. The casing joined to the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 can be turned relative to the rear housing 
2
 before the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 are plugged into the socket, so as to permit the position of the air purifier to be adjusted according to the need. However, referring to 
FIGS. 8 and 9
, the range of the adjustment is limited to an angle of about 90°, i.e. when the power plug 
3
 is turned clockwise from the position of 
FIG. 8
, it must not be turned for more than 90°, otherwise the copper strips 
35
 and 
36
 each will get into contact with both of the L-shaped conductive portions 
331
, 
341
 of the conductors 
33
 and 
34
 to cause a shortcircuit. Therefore, the air purifier is not ideal from the view point of safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide an air purifier, of which the power plug can be rotated to any position without the risk of causing a shortcircuit.
The air purifier has a motor, a fan, a main body, a rear housing, and a filtering net like the one in the Background, and is provided with a power plug of the present invention.
The power plug includes a rotatable member and a pair of conductive members. The conductive members have ring-shaped portions concentrically arranged in a chamber of the housing, and have straight portions projecting into the housing form the ring-shaped portions so as to be electrically connected to the motor. The rotatable member is rotatably received in the chamber, and has a pair of copper strips, which stick out at outer ends for connection with a power socket, and which constantly touch a respective one of the ring-shaped portions from inner ends in the rotation of the rotatable member.
Thus, the air purifier can be turned to any orientation relative to the copper strips without the risk of causing a shortcircuit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6214074 (2001-04-01), Beier et al.
patent: 6296522 (2001-10-01), Ho
patent: 6340926 (2002-01-01), Chu
patent: 6419378 (2002-07-01), Wedell et al.
patent: 6428351 (2002-08-01), Turner et al.
patent: 6461396 (2002-10-01), Baker et al.
patent: 6494940 (2002-12-01), Hak
Hung Hsing Electric Co., Ltd.
Pham Minh-Chau T.
Rosenberg , Klein & Lee
Smith Duane
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